Congratulations! James Nowak is known as an advocate for advanced manufacturing. “The manufacturing industry built our nation and continues to be the primary socioeconomic driver for local communities,” Nowak said. “I hope that domestic manufacturing continues to grow and evolve by pushing the boundary with the adoption of cross-cutting ideas from non-traditional viewpoints and fields.” Among his proudest achievements, Nowak cites his doctorate degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). “Growing up in a small rural town, I never could have imagined having the opportunity to pursue a PhD. Over my graduate career, I made sacrifices and put in the long hours within the manufacturing and material characterization laboratories at RPI to perform the necessary research studies and experiments to be awarded with this prestigious degree.” Currently, Nowak leads a fabrication team at MIT Lincoln Laboratory (MIT LL), a federally funded research and development center, where he handles manufacturing challenges associated with space prototype systems. He said he has seen the value in his PhD, which shaped his engineering philosophy and leadership style, giving him the ability to learn and make meaningful technical contributions to challenging prototyping efforts at MIT LL. Looking toward the future, Nowak believes manufacturing is primed to benefit from the adoption of AI. “Manufacturing environments involving interconnected platforms sharing data and information have the ability to revolutionize the field,” he added. “I look forward to seeing the techniques that allow us to harness data and AI to better anticipate manufacturing demands and outcomes within an enterprise and across entire manufacturing sectors.”